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Against all odds, McCain fights for GOP nod
As growing anti-war sentiment rocks Washington in October 1967, John McCain is back in action aboard the Oriskany, off the coast of Vietnam.
For a month he's been flying A-4 bombing raids like this one over Hanoi. On Oct. 26, he prepares for his 23rd mission. The target: a large power plant on the outskirts of the city.
Although his commander warns him to be careful, McCain isn't worried.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): Almost everybody I knew had the same air of self-confidence, even cockiness that went with a strong belief I wouldn't get shot down.
As he nears his target, McCain comes under heavy fire. He weaves his plane around surface to air missiles the size of telephone poles.
Just as he goes into his dive, a heat-seeking missile locks onto his plane. The moment he releases his payload, it slams into his jet.
Sen. McCain: When it happened, when the surface to air missile hit my airplane, I reacted instinctively.
Hurtling towards the ground at 550 miles per hour, McCain has just enough time to radio back "I'm hit!", then pull the ejection handle.
Sen. McCain: I was knocked unconscious by the ejection and injured, my arms broken, my leg broken.
McCain plunges into a lake in the center of Hanoi. He floats to the surface, where he's met by Vietnamese soldiers. They photograph the scene as they pull him to shore
Bob Timberg, biographer: There are people on the shore screaming. He's punched, he's hit. Somebody takes a rifle and jams it down on his shoulder and seriously injures it. Somebody takes a bayonet and cuts him in the groin. People are screaming. It's a horrible scene.
McCain is dragged to the infamous complex of prisons known as the Hanoi Hilton.
When his Vietnamese captors demand military information, McCain refuses and is beaten senseless.
Sen. McCain: I don't think there's any doubt that I was near death. I hovered near death for a long period of time.
Meantime, sketchy details of John McCain’s shoot-down are trickling back to the home front. His father, Admiral Jack McCain, now the commander of the entire Pacific fleet, receives word that his son has been shot down, nothing more.
Joe McCain, brother: My father called and he said John has been shot down. All of a sudden, the loss of this hero figure, of this brother. I remember being so distraught. Then I said, “What do we do next?” And my father said, “All we can do is pray for the boy.”
Back in the Hanoi Hilton, McCain, with no medical treatment, is left to die.
Timberg: He’s truly battered. If he's not at death's door, he's on the front lawn.
But just then the North Vietnamese realize he's the son of a famous admiral. Suddenly, McCain is transferred to the hospital ward and his captors share news of their prisoner with the world.
Joe McCain: I thought my brother was dead and now he's alive. I don't care what they're doing to him, he's not dead, you know? So [crying] one of the most difficult moments of my life, followed closely by one of the most emotionally elating moments of my entire life.
But the families' elation over his survival would soon be tempered by these harrowing broadcast images of john McCain, prisoner of war.
"What is your name? John McCain.”
As part of their propaganda blitz, the Vietnamese have invited a French film crew to interview McCain from his hospital bed. McCain agrees, thinking his wife and family do not yet know he's alive.
An emaciated McCain appears dazed and frightened as he recounts his ordeal.
I was hit by either missile or anti-aircraft fire, I'm not sure which. And the plane continued straight down. And I ejected and broke my leg and both arms. And went into a lake, parachuted into a lake. And I was picked up by North Vietnamese, and taken to the hospital, where I almost died [voice cracks].
Joe McCain: I remember just sitting there watching that image of John with his arm up in the air. And that cigarette in one hand, and looking beaten up and very white, and his lips trembling and whatever. I've never seen him like that before. And it was awful to watch for me.
I would just like to tell my wife [voice cracks] that I will get well. I love her and I hope to see her soon. I'd appreciate if you'd tell her that.
Once the cameras are put away, McCain is sent back to his roach-infested hospital room. He's never once bathed or cleaned. His condition worsens.
He's eventually moved to a prison cell occupied by Americans.
Bud Day, former POW: My first impression was, “My God, here's this old man with white hair. He's in a huge body cast. His right arm juts out of it like a stick out of a snowman.”
McCain weighs less than 100 pounds. He can't eat or go to the bathroom by himself. His fellow POWs don't think he'll make it.
Day: I was just certain that he was on the verge of death and that the Vietnamese had dumped him on us so that they could say well he was out there with Americans and they just let him die.
And the worst is yet to come.
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